Wednesday, August 27, 2008

sigh...

that's how i'm feeling. and that's maybe how most teachers feel their first week back to school. there's so much to do but sometimes no matter how much you do, nothing more can happen until those kiddos arrive and fill up the classroom with reasons for teaching. but nonetheless, there is this panic-y feeling that fills me the weekend before school begins. "i have to do something great this weekend!" i think. "tim! we need to do something fun this weekend!" i say. "it's my LAST weekend!" i shout.

sometimes i forget it's not my last weekend. there will be another one next week.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Monday, August 11, 2008

days of summer: 6


abbotsford blueberries
10 lbs.
washed and bagged for my freezer


Saturday, August 09, 2008

*sigh* joshua?

two comments on the last post? there must be more SYTYCD fans reading this blog that have something to say now that it's all said and done!

well i thought that i'd be okay with either katee or joshua...but then katee got kicked out. and i was sad. consoled a little that josh won and not twitch (though, don't get me wrong, i do love twitch) but it should have been katee. this is what happens when we leave the voting to american highschool girls. haha.

highlight of the finale: all the old SYTYCD dancers in the big final dance. i was watching the show with 3 boys (one who's a hater) and 1 girl who's watched this whole season but not the past ones as wholeheartedly as me. which is all fine and good...but i scared them all when the finale dance came on - screaming out peoples' names, "there's benji! i love you dominic! i hate you neil!" stuff like this. at the end, i looked around and everyone was looking at me. hmm...

yay for SYTYCD live in september!

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

ahh...the finale

so there we have it. the last chance for courtney, twitch, joshua, and katee to bring it. it was pretty good.

katee just seems so far and away the winner - she's such a wonderful dancer. i really felt it even more when they did the little clip of her journey through the competition and the clips were all dances i really remembered. that's a sign of good dances - the ones we remember. and when she's in ALL of them? how can she not come out on top? ...umm...usually that's when they don't come out on top, isn't it? shoot. maybe i've ruined it for her. ;)

joshua is amazing. he also could win it.

i've loved twitch since the audition. and he never lost that lovable quality (which mandy moore so poorly put it as the "sparkle in his eyes"...i'm sure his home boys are loving that) if he won it though, i don't think it would be deserved in comparison to katee. but i think he's made his mark (just as nigel so fantastically put it) on this competition.

and courtney? i can't believe she made it this far. sure, i've liked her all along but top 4? apparently i'm not the only one who feels this way because the judges just kept saying it over and over which must be strange for her to keep hearing.

i was suprised by the first hiphop dance and the kudos that it got from the judges. sure, mandy moore was miss positive, no criticism tonight but the other two? it was not deserving of the scream. it looked like they missed some major moves but tried to mask it? did anyone else feel like that? i was shocked by the positivity from the judges afterwards.

i love wade robson. i was SO excited that he came and choreographed a dance for tonight and it was a great great dance. and i was also happy that they gave us the reason as to where he's been all season because every wednesday i say, "but where's wade robson been?" yay.

strange number for the final 4. i was pretty pumped for it - mia? oh yeah. but then i had mixed feelings. i wish i had tivo (or just recorded it on the vcr) to play it back and re-assess. kilts? there was so much going on and i'm often yelling at the camera angles that miss people and felt like they played into my lack of excitement for it. i feel fairly strongly about season 2's final 4 finale and i rewatched that one tonight to figure out why. i think i just loved all those dancers more than the seasons 3 & 4. hmm...

at least i'll get to see lots of these dances again LIVE in september when tim and i (and liz and darian) go see SYTYCD on TOUR! what what!?!?

prediction for winner? katee.

"welcome home!"

said my forgotten sweet potato...

the julie/julia project

so i was thinking that at the end of august, i'd post all the books that i read this summer and write a blurb about them. well...this one was too good to wait...and heck - who doesn't need a good book to read by the pool/beach in the sunshine, right? or in your bed curled up during a thunderstorm?

here it is: Julie and Julia : 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny apartment kitchen : how one girl risked her marriage, her job, and her sanity to master the art of living - by Julie Powell

this 29 year old woman, living in NY, hating her string of temp jobs, and feeling distraught about turning 30 and having nothing accomplished in life gets this random idea that she'll cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol. 1...in one year. waaay back in 2002 when everyone didn't have their own blog, she began blogging her cooking fiascos. alyssa had mentioned this book a month or so ago and i can't remember if she'd read it or just heard about it. i remember saying, "how could that be a whole book?" well it is.

i feel like this is a random idea that I'D get and blog about and wish that i hadn't started but have to finish because i said i would...which is exactly how julie feels. and when you hear the premise of the book, you think that it must be chapter after chapter of recipe after recipe but it's not. it's a lot about her life with some cooking thrown in. and the things that she makes are crazy. and julie is hilarious - very much like a friend that you know. you probably have an instant picture in mind of what type of person is taking on this cooking project, right? i did. my picture was kind of an (unsuccessful) rachel synchyshyn - you know, ulimate multi-tasker, love for food and talent for cooking, clean, measures ingredients carefully, enjoys good cookware... but she's crass and not rachel at all. doesn't hold back the honesty in the crazy that this project made her: the mean things that she said to her husband, the screaming profanity breakdowns, or the number of times she'd have to try to make something over and over until it was halfway decent. (she's not much of a perfectionist)

i'd definitely recommend the read - there were many lines i wanted to write down and quote here but didn't...and then couldn't find the page again. i checked out the FVRL library website and all but one copy is "in library"...apparently only one other person besides me in the lower mainland is reading this book. however...a disclaimer to my rave reviews: there are references to things of a sexual nature (she often equates cooking to sex)...and as mentioned earlier, more swearing than you'd expect from a book like this (she says her sailor mouth comes from her mom) so you know...beware. i think as i was reading, it was a "yeah...this is pretty good" but as it comes to the end, you're sad to see it finished and want to read more. and julie powell ends it well - poignant but with a laugh.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

travel collections...

when we were on the east coast, we took lots of photos. we were usually disappointed with our sad little camera's performance but at least we could document our trip. there are lots of boats. lots of churches. lots of lighthouses. eventually when we would see one of these three things and wonder if we should take a picture, we'd say, "nah, we already have lots." but apparently, we couldn't hold back because when i went through our pics today, i had to laugh at how many of each we have. and now you get to see them in my final travel blog posts...good OR bad.

travel collections: boats














travel collections: churches











travel collections: lighthouses